90 – News

“…Aren’t you going too far?”

“….”

Various wounds mar her head.

Wounds I inflicted with my own hands.

A trickle of blood stains her lip,

her hair a tangled disarray.

She rubs the swelling knot on her head,

her mouth jutting out in a pout.

Yet, she voices no real complaint;

perhaps she understands the extent of her wrongdoing.

It would be one thing if she were human, but for her, a dragonkin,

even patience is a difficult act.

“..What do you take me for?.”

“….”

“It’s only that many of my kind are arrogant,

not all of us are.”

“….”

“I, too, am arrogant, of course, but I would never

quibble over something I myself instigated.”

Her horns begin to reappear,

her pupils stretching into slits.

In this airless space,

strands of ash-colored hair tremble.

“Well, whatever…you’ve passed my trial.

The trial that almost all life rejected, dreaded.”

“….”

“The important thing is the result, and you overcame it.

In other words, you have earned the right to wield my power.”

Her torn wings burst forth with a rustling sound,

beautiful in their emergence,

and her voice, once again, sounds like

the cry of a beast, sending shivers through my body.

“Ah, this is the song of fire.

The burning, ever-burning fire spreads to all,

even if one leaps into the river,

the fire clinging to the body will never be extinguished.

The mouse that entered the river sings a song,

the heated screams boiling even the river itself.

Ah, this is the song of rain.

With each ending of the song, one by one the fires are quenched,

rain falls, the river cools,

the fire dies down and the screams subside.”

“But the banner of song, it soaked through and tore in the end, they say.

The mouse, burning, it died as well.

And the cooled riverside, no water flowed there anymore, they say.

What remained in the end was a handful of ashes.

Only black and pallid ashes, soaked with rain and fire, remained, they say.”

“….”

“Alright, there.”

Her form returns once more.

No horns, not even wings remain,

Just the figure of a plain human.

No longer a growling voice, but

The slender, fragile voice of a girl.

“..What have you done?”

“Nothing much, just something akin to

the sign of the cross you folks make.”

She says this,

Approaching me.

Or rather, her hand.

“..?!”

“Ah, hold still for a moment.”

Her hand reaches for my clothes,

Then yanks open the collar of my neck,

I was about to demand what she was doing,

But her hand points to something.

A sigil, etched into my neck before I knew it,

Releasing a wisp of smoke.

“..What is this?”

“A mark symbolizing my vassalage,

Even the dragonkin wouldn’t dare ignore it, most likely.”

“….”

“With this, you have become my vassal.

You will be able to freely use our words.

The efficiency, beyond compare to what it was before.”

“….”

“But, don’t use it too much.

It’s only empowering your qualifications, after all.”

“…?”

“Hah..Just use it as much as your body can handle.

Your body is human, not dragonkin.”

According to her words, this sigil is only

It was said to be the meaning of permission to use dragon tongue.

So other dragons wouldn’t kill me on sight,

but would simply let it pass.

A considerable increase in efficiency was just a bonus.

And the fact that I no longer had to worry

about my body being taken over…

Though I wouldn’t have to worry about side effects,

it didn’t lessen the strain on my body,

so I was to use it sparingly.

“And don’t come here again,

or you might really die if you try.”

“…Understood.”

“Listen to that voice, still not over it, huh?”

“….”

“Heh heh, but since I am sorry,

I’ll give you a quick send-off as a service.”

“Pardon?”

“Farewell, and fare well, but don’t come again.

You’re my vassal now, after all.”

She gave me a light shove,

and my body stumbled backward.

One step back,

and there was no floor.

The ground that should have been there

was nowhere to be felt.

My gaze tilted backwards, and at the same time

she waved her hand at me.

A faint smile graced her lips.

A sad smile, the likes of which I’d never seen before.

*

“…!”

“Eek!!”

The moment I opened my eyes, I tried to sit up,

but my head collided with something.

“L-Lord…?!”

“…Ella.”

Ella, beside me, shielding her forehead

as she looked at me with wide eyes.

Beneath those eyes, signs of a sleepless night

Dark circles clung heavily beneath her eyes,

her hair was a wild tangle,

and in one hand she clutched a damp cloth.

I didn’t know which words to speak first,

so I simply watched her,

until in her bright, eager eyes,

a single tear, like a glass bead, welled up.

“Master… Master, are you alright?!”

“..Yes, I think I’m all righ─”

“Sir!!”

Even as my heart softened at Ella’s

weeping voice calling my name,

she flung the wet cloth down as if in a rage,

and bolted from the room.

Not long after, several knights

and elves hurried back in, carrying herbs and bandages.

Ella was with them.

“Oho, Human, you’re truly awake, then?!”

“..Haha, fortunate indeed, truly fortunate!!”

“For the moment, he remains a patient, rest is paramount, Human.”

They examined me thoroughly,

replacing my bandages and applying herbal remedies.

They greeted me as if I were some savior,

their welcoming so alien.

Unused to the cheers and

adoration directed towards me, I was still trying to adjust,

when someone else entered.

She still carried the scent of the wild about her.

“It is good that you are awake.”

“..Your Highness, what brings you here─”

“Do not strain yourself, remain lying down.

Your muscles will be stiff from just waking.”

Sylvia Restonil.

The Elven Princess.

The moment she entered the room,

elves and knights alike knelt before her, offering their respects.

I, too, began to offer her the appropriate deference,

but she stopped me.

“Elves… Nay, to the savior of us all,

I could not bear to have them bow their head to someone like me.”

“…”

A perilous pronouncement.

Especially in the presence of an Imperial Knight.

She, a Princess of the Elves, was

openly declaring her preference for me, a commoner in the eyes of the realm.

Yet, she seemed to give

not a whit about such things.

As if at this moment, I was all that mattered.

“We struck a bargain, did we not? The giving of Spirit Stones, in exchange for

me granting you a single request.”

“…”

“Consider it undone.

The Spirit Stones are yours to keep.”

“…”

“That you saved us all, holds a value

far greater than any single request.

And if there is aught else you desire,

speak it freely, and it shall be yours.”

With those words, she lowered her head.

The panicked whispers of the other elves rippled behind her,

but she paid them no heed.

Nay, with each murmur of protest,

she only bowed deeper still.

“Truly, truly, I am grateful.”

“…”

“Take this as well.”

From within her robes, she produced a single, small leaf.

In form, it resembled the leaf I received from Plante,

yet its essence was entirely different.

Upon this vibrant leaf,

azure sapphire-like characters, glittering,

were etched like an intricate magic circle.

As if it were in itself a language, a mark.

“Your…Your Highness, that is…!”

“Even so, that goes too far…”

“Silence.”

She spoke, still kneeling behind them, her face hidden, the

A few minor grievances from some of the elves, she caught them right away.

With a look that bordered on pity, she spoke.

“Are you lot still drunk on your sense of superiority,

idiots lost in the clouds?”

“N-no…”

“T-that’s not it, no!”

“Then keep quiet.

If you wish to preserve the lives I so painstakingly saved.”

Then, with a voice and expression completely

different from before, she turned her gaze back to me.

And pulling out of her robes another leaf, identical to the one she gave me, she continued her story.

“That is the ‘Primordial Leaf,’ something only the elven royalty may possess.”

“…Why are you giving it to me…”

“There is a tale of elder predecessors bestowing

this upon benefactors of the elves, in days of old.

Along with the decree that whoever holds this leaf

should be treated with the utmost respect.”

“….”

“There is no other worthy of receiving it but you,

I would be grateful if you would accept it.”

Once more, she gave me a brief bow

and offered her thanks before departing outside,

bringing the situation to a close, and now

all that remained for me was

“Young master…are you truly alright?

“…Yes, weren’t you right there beside me just now.”

“R-really…?”

Only to comfort Ella, who still sniffled next to the bed

where I lay.

Stroking Ella’s hair, I asked her about what had happened outside in the meanwhile.

If the restoration of the Great Forest was progressing,

what became of that thing I was carrying,

if there had been any other incidents.

As we exchanged these inconsequential words,

Ella clapped her hands once as if realizing something.

And with a tremor running through her, her eyes,

filled with a certain unease, gazed back at me.

It brought to mind a large, amiable hound.

“L-Lord…”

“What is it? Has something gone amiss?”

“Th-that is…”

“Speak, Ella.”

“While you were unconscious, Lord…

An envoy from the Empire, their Foreign Minister, came to call.”

“…There’s nothing particularly wrong with that, I wouldn’t think.

It doesn’t seem like you’d be particularly impolite.”

The Empire and the Elves, even if you put it harshly,

are at least on amicable terms.

Whether it’s to offer assistance after assessing the situation,

or to seize the moment and attempt an invasion,

the Foreign Minister’s visit, in itself,

didn’t strike me as particularly unusual.

“B-but… um…”

“…?”

“There was a message they wanted to relay to you, Lord…”

“And what might that be?”

“His Imperial Majesty… the Emperor, wishes to meet you…”

That’s when it dawned on me.

This was sufficiently mad.